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Saturday, October 22, 2011

Amazon vs. Barnes & Noble... again

I was unsurprised to hear that Amazon was at it again — and by "at it" I mean throwing their weight around and just in general being a bully in the marketplace. This time they used their influence to work out an exclusive deal with DC Comics, so that Amazon will be the only place where you can get digital versions of their comic books. In answer, Barnes & Noble pulled all the physical versions from their shelves, and another major book chain, Books-a-Million, followed suit.

I am so tired of Apple and Amazon trying to eliminate competition in the ebook market. The free market system is based on competition — if you can't find a book elsewhere, possibly at a lower price, how are retailers supposed to compete? I don't like the agency model of pricing ebooks either, and we have Apple to thank for that one.

I'm hoping that as ebooks become more commonplace and less of an new technology, that things will calm down. Obviously I don't expect stores to stop trying to compete with one another, but I do hope something will happen to cause them to stop trying to undermine the free market system. I hope also that once ebooks aren't so exciting and new, people will stop paying any price for them, and publishers will be forced to bring prices down a little — right now I think some are a bit too high.

In the meantime, it'll be interesting to see what comes of Barnes & Noble to carry DC Comics any longer!

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About Me

A voracious reader since childhood, I actually can't remember a time when I couldn't read. My claim to fame in school was having a new reading book with me almost every day. Now a freelance writer, aspiring novelist, and a part-time nanny, I still enjoy reading -- and sharing what I read -- as much as ever!

About My Blog

Livre du Jour, a.k.a. My Book of the Day Blog, is primarily devoted to reviewing the books I read. You'll find there is a little something for almost everyone here: mainstream fiction, classics and literature, children's and YA, romance, and even some nonfiction. A huge fan of the digital book market, I also frequently blog about industry news and opportunities to download free ebooks.